It's official, Google has shaken things up again -just like they did years back when they first "suggested" websites should be responsive (so they look great on any device). This time they are announcing mobile first indexing.

FROM GOOGLE: Today we’re announcing that after a year-and-a-half of careful experimentation and testing, we’ve started migrating sites that follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing.

If you are a web designer, developer or a firm that does both, this should be absolutely no surprise to you. In fact, preparations for this update should have been in progress for many years. Google outlined how to get ready for this in December of 2017...but, as mentioned, the wheels have been put in motion for this well before that. Many variations of this page existed in their webmaster blog since early 2014. Guidelines, such as how to code to make sure Googlebot can access all necessary files, have been clearly spelled out, such as:

Important: Be sure not to block the crawling of any page assets (CSS, JavaScript, and images) for any Googlebot using robots.txt or other methods. Being able to fully access these external files will help our algorithms detect your site's responsive web design configuration and treat it appropriately.

Front9's logo in an example responsive layout for “all screens”…the smaller of which are ready for mobile-first indexing.

So, What Now?

It's obvious, any company who is responsible for creating websites needs to continue to improve upon and enhance the experience for mobile users. Now, it needs to be considered first and foremost. More and more people are relying on their smartphones to surf the web. In many cases, it may be the only device they use.

In 2018 and beyond, websites will continue to be very important to any online marketing strategy, but there is still a much greater digital marketing footprint necessary for online success. - Front9 Agency

With this in mind...there’s a lot that can be done to give mobile-first users a great experience. Make sure you are working with any agency that is up-to-speed with the latest technology.